You're Beautiful
by AmaiYuzuki564
Summary: Makoto hated being chubby and the constant bullying that came with it. But Haruka was always there to pick up the pieces. MakoHaru with Chubby!Makoto, OOC-ness, fluff, and cheesy-ness in some places. And there's also a slightly ghetto Nagisa.


**Me: Hello, hello. My first Free! fanfic and a MakoHaru at that. I've had this idea buzzing in my head for weeks, and I thought a chubby Mako would be adorable, ya know? He'd be a like a hug-able teddy bear (Haru's of course) :3  
And before you guys say anything. No, I do NOT have a fat fetish. I just like hug-able things and chubby people are hug-able. I have this weird gut feeling someone's gonna bitch at me for "ruining Makoto and his perfect body" or some shit OTL  
If someone does, you better make that review anonymous if you don't want one hell of a verbal abuse from me.**

**I DON'T own Free! Got it?**

**And sorry for the slightly ghetto-sounding Nagisa. Blame 50% off for that.**

* * *

"Hey look, everybody! The whale's migrating for more food!"

Makoto sighed as he ignored the taunts and laughter and continued on his way.

If you asked Makoto Tachibana what was the one thing he hated about himself, he couldn't name just one thing. Okay, 'he couldn't name just one thing' is sorta sugar coating it. He hated everything about himself. From his chubby cheeks to his pudgy body and the constant bullying that came along with it. He was always a pretty big guy. Both height-wise and weight-wise. But his family didn't seem to mind his chubbyness, nor his friends, which was one of the few things that kept him sane.

The other students at school on the other hand...

"Hey, pig!"

Makoto tensed up for a second then turned around, preparing for the harshness that often followed. "Yes, Shinji*****?"

"Just so you know, the auditions for Free Willy are over there." Shinji remarked, pointing in a random direction.

Everyone in the hall burst out laughing. "Good one, Shinji!"

Makoto felt tears threatening to fall from his eyes. He looked at the ground, hopefully no one would notice. He didn't want to give them the satisfaction they wanted. But that didn't work when someone shouted, "Awww, the widdle piggy's gonna cry!"

"Quick, someone get him some food! That'll cheer him up!"

With all of the insults and horrible names being thrown at him, Makoto was slowly losing control of his emotions. In a few minutes, he was reduced to full on sobbing, which was being drowned out with more cruel laughter.

He suddenly felt a slight tug on his sleeve. He knew what is was and immediately felt comforted. Makoto turned around to find himself staring into ocean blue eyes. "Haru..."

"Let's go, Makoto. Everyone's waiting." Haruka said quietly, leading the other boy away from the crowd. They went to the stairs leading to the roof, not saying anything to each other on the way, save for Makoto sniffling.

The black-haired boy shot his friend a worried glance. "You okay?"

Makoto nodded in response, wiping leftover tears from his eyes. Haruka gently pat him on the back repeatedly in an attempt to comfort him. "Just don't let them get to your head. None of the stuff they say is true, so please stop crying. It'll make everybody else worry."

"Okay, I'll try."

Haruka, who was still hanging on to Makoto's sleeve, led him upstairs to the roof where their friends were.

"Mako-chan, Haru-chan. You're late!" Nagisa complained. As Nagisa was running up to the two, Makoto quickly put on a smile to hide the fact that he had been crying just now. But his red and watery eyes were a dead givaway.

"Eh? What's wrong, Mako-chan?"

"It's nothing, Nagisa. I'm alright" Makoto lied.

Nagisa frowned. "Shinji again?"

Makoto opened his mouth to say somthing, but knew it was pointless to lie to him, so he just simply nodded.

The blond rolled his eyes and everyone else knew that another side of Nagisa is about to come out.

"Listen here, Mako-chan. Shinji is a bitch-ass poser and we all know that." Nagisa said. "There's nothing wrong with being a little bit on the chubby side. Besides, in nature, it's actually good to be fat than to be way too skinny. A hippo will kill you! A polar bear will kill you! A WHALE will kill you!"

Makoto couldn't help but laugh at that. Since 'Whale' was the most common nickname for him, he wondered if the bullies knew that whales could possibly kill them. Ah, it would be nice to be a killer whale, so Makoto could bite their heads off. Okay, that was a bit harsh.

"Besides, you're so soft and hug-able. Ever seen an anorexic teddy bear? That shit ain't cute." Nagisa continued. "Those hating bitches may hate your guts now, but when winter comes around, they'll be huddling up to you for warmth! Not like you should ever let them."

Suddenly, Makoto burst into a fit of laughter and everyone else (except Haruka) joined in.

"Guys, we should eat before lunch period is over." said Gou, trying to contain her laughter. "Just try to get some energy in for practice today, okay?"

Everyone had calmed down and continued eating their lunches. Except for Makoto, who offered his lunch to Haruka.

"Don't you have to eat too?" the black-haired boy asked.

"You never eat anything other than mackerel." Makoto replied. "Besides I'm sorta on a diet, so you can have it."

Haruka took the bento without another word. He scooped up a bit of food with the chopsticks and held it up to Makoto's lips.

"H-haru!, I told you. I'm on a diet!"

"Starving yourself isn't a diet." Haruka said firmly. "Now eat."

The other boy tried to refuse, but Haruka wasn't having it. He kept waving the chopsticks in front of Makoto's face until the latter gave in and opened his mouth, reluctantly eating the food. This repeated several times until Haruka had managed to feed Makoto the entire bento.

"Ah, I ended up eating the whole thing and didn't leave anything for you. Sorry, Haru."

"It's fine. At least I'm not letting you starve yourself again." Haruka replied.

* * *

"Come on, Mako-chan. Swim with us!" Nagisa exclaimed, waving his hand furiously.

"No thanks, I'll pass." Makoto yelled back.

"Aww...Mako-chan's no fun." Nagisa turned to Gou. "Can you convince Mako-chan to jump in with us, Gou-chan?"

"First of all, it's KOU! Second, if he doesn't want to swim, don't force him to." Gou replied. "Now get back to your training!"

Really, Makoto wanted to jump in the pool with everyone else, but he was too ashamed of his body. Everyone would be digusted when they see his flabby stomach and the fat that clung to his thighs, so he'd just keep his clothes on and watched everybody swim, occasionally helping Gou with the training regimens and managing the swimming club.

"Ah, Haru-chan's swimming next!" said Nagisa.

Makoto's eyes went to the starting block Haruka was standing on. He watched as Haruka adjusted his goggles and take his position on the starting block. There was the high pitched tweet of Gou's whistle and Haruka immediately dove into the pool. Makoto was amazed with the way Haruka gracefully plowed through the water.

"Haruka-senpai's swimming is beautiful, as usual" Rei commented, staring with awe.

Nagisa nodded in agreement. "Yea! Just like a dolphin."

'_He could secretly be a merman for all I know_' Makoto chuckled at the thought.

When Haruka finished his laps, he tore his swimming cap off and shook the water out of his hair. He looked up to see Makoto standing at the edge of the pool, holding his hand out to him.

"That was amazing, Haru-chan!"

"I told you to lay off the -chan." Haruka sighed and took hold of Makoto's hand. Right after being pulled out of the pool, Haruka felt something fluffy fall on his head and a pair of hands ruffling his hair with the towel. "You really don't have to do this for me, Makoto."

"Well, it's either me drying you off or you not drying off at all." Makoto replied, smiling softly."I don't want you to catch a cold."

"Oh my gosh, you two are like a married couple!" Gou squealed in excitement.

Haruka turned away without a word, his cheeks dyed light pink. As for Makoto, he was reduced to a blushing, stammering mess, much to the others' amusement.

* * *

"Hey, Haru, do you want to come over to my place to play video games or somthing?" Makoto asked. "Plus Ren and Ran are dying to see you."

Haruka just silently gave Makoto a look, which Makoto took as a yes. "My place it is, then."

*timeskip to Makoto's humble abode*

"Welcome home, onii-chan!"

Makoto suddenly felt two small bodies tackling him. He smiled and patted both of their heads. "I'm home."

"Ah, you brought Haru nii-chan!" Ran exclaimed happily.

Haruka ruffled the girl's hair gently. "Hello."

"Where's mom and dad?" Makoto asked.

"They went out again." Ren replied. "They might be gone for a few days, so you have to take care of us."

"Well, a few days wouldn't hurt." Makoto turns to Haruka. "You wouldn't mind helping, right Haru?"

Haruka nodded in response. "I'll sleep over if you don't mind."

"Oh no, I totally don't mind. Ren and Ran would love to have you around."

"Yay, sleepover with Haru nii-chan!" The twins said excitedly.

"How about you two entertain yourselves for a bit while Haru and I go take a shower and change, then we'll do something fun, okay?"

The twins nodded and went off to to their own thing.

"I'll shower first, is that okay?" Makoto asked.

"Whatever."

Without another word, Makoto went into the bathroom and began stripping his clothes off. As he was doing so, he glanced at his reflection in the mirror and saw the thing he had always dreaded seeing everyday. Suddenly a bunch of thoughts plagued his mind.

_Fat._

_Ugly._

_Loser._

_Digusting._

_Why can't you be skinny like everybody else?_

Makoto quickly tore his eyes away from the mirror and ran into the shower, hoping that the hot water raining down on him would calm him down. For what seemed like hours, Makoto just stood under the shower, not minding the slight burn or the fact that his skin was starting to turn bright red. His forehead lightly touched the cold tile on the wall and his quiet sobs filled the room. The sound of running water drowned out the sound of the door opening, so Makoto didn't notice someone was coming in...

Until that someone pulled back the shower curtain.

"H-HARU!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU CAN'T JUST WALK IN HERE LIKE THIS!"

"You were taking a while, so I came to check on you." Haruka replied bluntly.

Makoto saw that Haruka was beginning to take his clothes off, his face suddenly turned 10 different shades of red. Haruka then **_took off his swimsuit_ **and hopped into the shower with Makoto.

"Do you have any shame, Haru?!" Makoto asked, burying his face into his hands to hide his blush.

"We used to take baths together when we were kids. How is this any different?"

'_How can he say that so casually?_' Makoto thought.

He looks over at Haruka and notices that the other boy had been staring at him for a while.

'_Haru is probably thinking about how digusting I look._' The thought made Makoto cringe. Now that he thought about it, Haruka didn't seem phased at all about his appearance, but then again, Haruka hardy showed any hint of emotion at all, so sometimes it's hard to tell what he's thinking, even for Makoto.

A bottle of shampoo was shoved in his face, pulling him out of this thoughts. "Haru?"

"Can you wash my hair for me?" Haruka asked.

Makoto sighed. "Jeez, Haru, can't you do it yourself?"

"I like it when you do it for me." Haruka replied. "I'll wash your hair for you in return."

"You're such a kid sometimes." Makoto laughed as he squirted a small amount of shampoo onto Haruka's head and began scrubbing it into his hair. Haruka took the bottle from Makoto and did the same. But then they decided to throw suds at each other and have an all out sud fight, but they managed to rinse off quickly. Makoto got out of the shower, dryed himself off, and slipped on some clean clothes. He then gave Haruka some spare clothes, but the shorts he gave him were too big and slid off easily, so Haruka opted for wearing just the t-shirt. It was big enough to wear as a nightgown, at least.

"Haru, you forgot you dry yourself again." Makoto said, ruffling Haruka's dark hair with a towel.

Haruka pouted, much to the taller boy's amusement. "I can do it myself."

"Says the one who asked me to wash his hair for him a few minutes ago." Makoto chuckled. "So, you up for playing some video games?"

Again, Haruka silently nodded.

*le timeskip to Mako's room*

"Makoto, I'm starting to get bored of this game." Haruka said after hours of button mashing.

"Yeah, me too." Makoto looked at his siblings, who had both fallen asleep. "Let's carry these two to bed and then we'll watch a movie, okay?"

They carry the twins back to their rooms and tuck them in. Back in Makoto's room, Makoto goes through his movie collection for a movie they could watch together, but they've seen every one of them and they didn't feel like watching the same movie twice. Until Makoto remembered that Gou had lent him a movie DVD a few days ago. He went through his school bag to find it and showed it to Haruka.

"Kou-chan said it was a romance-comedy, but it has zombies in it, so I was too scared to watch it myself."

"It looks like another Twilight." Haruka commented.

Makoto shrugged. "Might as well watch it to see for ourselves." he said as he put the DVD in the player.

The first ten minutes of the movie, Makoto was hiding behind Haruka, expecting something scary to happen, but other than the one part where the main zombie eats the female protagonist's boyfriend in the beginning, the movie was actually really sweet. In the middle of the movie, Makoto notices Haruka was leaning comfortably against him with his head resting on his chest. Makoto instinctively wrapped his arms around Haruka and pulled him close. The dark-haired boy didn't seem to mind this, so they just stayed like that for the rest of the movie.

"That movie actually wasn't so bad. It's actually cute, right Haru?"

There was no reply. Makoto saw that Haruka was half-asleep. It was pretty late and Makoto was feeling a bit tired himself. After turning off the TV, he gently laid Haruka on the bed, then got in next to him.

"Good night, Haru." Makoto whispered, turning off the lights.

He closed his eyes and attempted to fall asleep, but then he suddenly felt a pair of thin arms wrap around his soft and pudgy body tightly. Makoto felt heat rush to his face when Haruka snuggled closer to him. Not knowing what else to do, Makoto ended up hugging the smaller boy back.

"You really are such a kid sometimes."

"Nngh...Mako..to..."

Wait, Haruka talks in his sleep?

"...just...let me...swim...dammit."

Makoto put a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from laughing, but this was just too hilarious. He looked over at Haruka and listened to the random nonsense and groaning that came out of the dark-haired boy's mouth. Most of it was about swimming, water, or mackerel. Seemed typical of Haruka. But the next thing Haruka said caught Makoto off guard.

"Mhhm...lo...ve...you...Ma...ko..."

* * *

"You okay, Makoto?" Haruka asked as they were walking to school the next day.

"Oh...uh...yeah! I'm totally fine, why you ask?"

"You seemed a bit nervous since this morning."

"Oh, am I?" Makoto laughed nervously. "Maybe you're just imagining things. It's still early in the morning, Haru."

Haruka gives him a look, but remains quiet the rest of the way.

'_What was that last night? Haru said he loved me, but he was just sleep-talking, right? I mean, people who sleep-talk say strange things, so there's no way Haru would actually be in love with me. Who would even want to love a fat loser like me? Definetely not Haru.' _

As usual, Nagisa, Rei, and Gou were waiting in front of the school for them. "You guys are late, again!" Nagisa whined.

"The bell hasn't rung yet, so technically, we're not late." Makoto replied.

"Well, if you guys don't get going, the bell will ring and you will actually be late!" Gou said.

Makoto nodded. "Good idea."

There was actually plenty of time before class started, so they hung out in the halls and talked as much as the could before the bell rang. Makoto went to go get a drink of water from the water fountain, but then the guys behind him decided to talk shit. And one of those guys just so happened to be Shinji.

"Hey, Shamu! Save some water for the whales, cause they're fishes, right?" Shinji glanced over at his friends who were snickering along with him.

Haruka walked up to Makoto and held on to his sleeve again. "Shamu is a saltwater mammal, just to let you know, dumbass." he retorted bluntly, keeping his usual straight face.

"Oh, yeah? How much did this fatass pay you to be friends with him, Nanase?"

Haruka could feel Makoto shaking. He knew he was about to cry again. This was the last straw for Haruka and something inside him just snapped.

He agressively grabbed Shinji by the hair and gave him a good backhand to the face. But Haruka just didn't stop there. He repeatedly slapped Shinji until his face as covered in black and blue. Nagisa and Rei jumped and held Haruka's arms back.

"Haruka-senpai, please calm down!" Rei pleaded.

Haruka struggled against the two holding him back, but eventually got tired and calmed down. He looked up to see Shinji being helped up by his friends. "You still wanna talk shit?" Haruka panted, ready for another fight.

"Why would you go would you got out of your way to defend a digusting loser like _him_, Nanase? Tachibana is a fat ugly crybaby who'll never get a girlfriend. He's not even worthy of being friends with someone like you."

Haruka was fired up again, but for a whole different reason. He shook Nagisa and Rei off of him. "That's right. Makoto will never have a girlfriend."

"Ha! Even Nanase agrees with me!"

"Haru-chan! Whose side are you on!?" Nagisa asked.

"Makoto will never get a girlfriend, because..." Haruka walks over to Makoto. "I won't allow it."

He grabs Makoto's tie and pulls him closer, pressing their lips together. Makoto was in a state of complete shock. He could taste the mackerel in Haruka's mouth, which was actually pleasent in a way. The kiss was sweet and innocent, but at the same time, full of passion. No words were needed, because all of Haruka's feelings were expressed in that kiss. In that moment, it felt like time had stopped and Makoto could feel his heart fluttering in this chest.

Sadly, when their lips pulled apart, reality hit Makoto like a sack of bricks. His face turned red upon realizing that Haruka just kissed him.

In front of everybody.

"H-haruuuuuu! Why did you have to go and do thaaaat!?"

"Because I love you, Makoto." Haruka replied bluntly, like it was the most casual thing ever.

"But did you really have to kiss me in front of everybody?"

"Because I want everyone to know that I love you and if they ever hurt you, I'll make sure they wish they were never born." Haruka looked over at Shinji and gave him a dark and frightening glare. Shinji opened his mouth to say something, but decided that it was a good idea to keep it shut.

Feeling satisfied that he got his point across, Haruka took Makoto by the hand and pulled him away until they found an empty hallway. He stopped walking when he felt Makoto's hand trembling.

"Makoto?"

"Haru...was any of that stuff you said true?" Makoto asked quietly.

"Why would you think I was lying?"

"Because I'm a fat and ugly loser. Who would love someone like me?"

"You idiot. Didn't I tell you not to let them get to your head?" Haruka lightly fist bumped Makoto's forehead. "One, you're not fat. You're chubby. There's a difference. Two, you are not a loser, so don't ever say that you are. Three, you are definetely **NOT** ugly. To me, you're beautiful and I will keep telling you that until you realize it yourself."

"You love me, even with all this?" Makoto asked, grabbing at his flabby stomach.

"I actually prefer something soft I can cuddle with." Haruka said. "Just promise me you won't try to go on some crazy diet or starve yourself." He hugged the other boy tightly and rested his head on his chest. This surprised Makoto a little bit. He never pegged Haruka as the type of person that liked to cuddle, but he actually found it cute, to be honest.

Makoto wrapped his arms around Haruka's thin waist, returning the hug. "I promise."

"I love you, Makoto."

"I love you too, Haru." Makoto replied, placing a loving kiss on the dark-haired boy's lips.

* * *

*meanwhile...*

"Yes! I knew they were gonna get together!" Gou said, as she was watching Haruka and Makoto from behind a wall.

"Haru-chan and Mako-chan make such a cute couple." Nagisa commented.

Rei nudges his glasses. "Agreed."

Taking their eyes off the couple for a bit, the saw Shinji not too far away also watching. "Disgusting fags..." he hissed with hatred lacing his voice. "Burn in Hell..."

"Hey, Shinji. Your dad was cheating on your mom yesterday." Nagisa shot back.

Rei put a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter. Gou smiled sweetly and said, "Apply cold water to that burn."

* * *

After school was swimming practice and as usual, Makoto just sat by the pool watching everyone swim.

He suddenly felt his arms being grabbed. "Hey!"

Nagisa smirked mischieviously. "Target."

"Captured." Rei finished.

"Wait, what are you doing!?" Makoto cried as he was being dragged by Nagisa and Rei. How they were able to drag him around easily was a mystery to him. "Haru, help me!"

They went to the locker room and pushed Makoto into the closet, then threw a bag at him.

"We're not letting you out until you put that on." Nagisa said, slamming the door shut.

Makoto tried to open the door, but it was locked from the outside. He eventually gave up on opening it and looked what was in the bag.

A swimsuit.

Oh, god.

Who knows how long Makoto spent in the closet staring at the swimsuit and contemplating whether or not to put it on, but after a while of internal battling, he finally decided to suck it up and put on the damn thing or else Nagisa might lock him up in the closet for days.

The swimsuit actually fit him comfortably, though he didn't know how they even got a swimsuit his size. There wasn't a mirror in the room, so he couldn't know how he looked. Though he's not sure if he wants to know...

"Mako-chan, are you done?" Nagisa called from the other side of the door.

"Y-yea..."

The door suddenly flew open and a hand grabbed Makoto's arm and dragged him out of the room.

"So, uh...how do I look?" Makoto nervously asked.

"You look great, Mako-chan!" Nagisa complimented with a wide grin.

"You really think so?"

"Mako-chan, you're just insecure. If we don't have a problem with your body, neither should you." The blond said. "Now, what are we waiting for? Let's get in the pool!"

Nagisa and Rei pushed Makoto back outside to the pool, despite Makoto's protests. Makoto felt himself freeze in place when he saw Haruka and Gou staring at him.

"Makoto-senpai, you look good in the swimsuit!" Gou exclaimed.

"Sorry I'm not all that muscular. You'd rather see that, right?"

Gou laughed and lightly poked Makoto's stomach. "Oh no, I don't mind. I mean I like muscles and all, but a little plush doesn't hurt, either."

"See? Even Gou-chan doesn't mind, so can you please swim with us from now on?" Nagisa begged, looking up at Makoto with puppy-dog eyes. "We still need a backstroke swimmer and you were pretty good when we were younger."

"But I haven't swam in a long time. I'm still a bit rusty."

"Who cares? That's why we're here everyday!"

"Well, if it's okay with you then, yes." Makoto said.

"Yay! Rei-chan, Gou-chan, did you hear that? We have a backstroke swimmer now!" Nagisa cried happily.

Rei backed away from Nagisa, covering his ears. "I'm right next to you, Nagisa-kun, you don't have to be so loud."

"Well, I'm glad you'll be joining us, Makoto senpai!" Gou said.

Suddenly, Makoto felt a hand grab his ankle and pull him into the pool with a huge splash. He quickly broke throught the surface of the water, coughing and spitting out water.

"Haru, what the hell? Are trying to drown m-mmph!?" Makoto was cut off by Haruka's lips pressing against his.

"Uhh, guys. I know you love each other a lot, but can you save the lovey-dovey stuff for later?" Nagisa asked.

"Yeah, Haru. You can't just kiss me whenever you feel like it. Do you know how embarrassing it is for me?"

Haruka ignores him and pulls him into a tight embrace. "Makoto."

"Yes, Haru?"

"You're beautiful."

Makoto smiles softly.

"I know."

* * *

*****If you watch 50% off, you should remember this line  
Makoto: Jeez Nagisa, it's been forever since you drowned Shinji in the deep end and tried to burn down the swim club  
Nagisa: Shinji was a bitch-ass poser! Whatever, I did my time. Joined the prison swim team, got out on good behavior. Ha! Believe that.  
Haruka: You broke out didn't you?  
Nagisa: WHO TOLD YOU THAT!?

I needed an name for Makoto's bully XD  
He's just some random dude, so what he looks like is totally up to you bros.

* * *

**Me: OOC-ness, overly sweet fluff (I actually got a toothache, no joke) and cheesy kiss scenes. One hell of a fanfic, amirite?**

** Okay, bros. Let's see if you can guess what movie what Mako and Haru were watching. It's one of my favorites ;)**

**Like this? Drop a review, please C:**

**Hate this? Why are you even here?**


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